Lower Hunter Activity Van Minutes

August 16, 2010

Correspondence in. This evening Giloo our landlord attended the committee meeting to ask us to decide on:

1.       whether we would accept $250 per week ($13,000pa) rent (up from $200pw / $10,400pa)

2.       if we would accept a month by month lease (we currently have none)

3.       if he could bring in a Real Estate Agent in the next day to price the venue to consider putting it up for sale.

He advised that he was going to cut down the tree in the courtyard – date for this unknown as it was affecting the toilet and creating dampness in the area.

He would like to hear back from us in one week.

AFTER he left we commenced our meeting. Meeting opened at 6.25pm

Chair:  Robyn Blackwell

Present:  Robyn Blackwell, Sarah Spinks, Phil Martinelli, Julie Hartigan, Lea–Ann Redgrove, Sandy Thomas, Lyndell Osmond, Tash Kelso, Sally Tudor.

Apologies:   Sharon Hill

Minutes from previous meeting:  Read at meeting. Moved by JH, seconded by LR that the minutes of the previous meeting be accepted as an accurate record of the meeting.

Passed.

Business Arising from previous minutes:  

There was discussion about Giloo’s offer.

Motion

RB to write at letter advising our landlord that we accept the$250 pw rent and month by month lease. Send via Liz O.

Moved TK, Seconded RB. Approved no objections.

Staff Report/s:  See attachment from PM and SS

President’s Report: See attached from RB.

General Business:

Three policies were reviewed, amended and approved with changes.

PM advised that the insurance claim for the damaged camera was successful and they paid all but the GST.

New desks look great. Well done to the staff for figuring out how to construct them.

Assets register details near completion. When done Liz O will send a full copy to Guild insurance for their records.

Giloo made a point of saying he has put a light in the toilet. This is a globe on an extension lead from the kitchen and is not satisfactory. Requires letter.

Liz O asked the committee what was to be done with the old equipment. The specs etc to go in the next newsletter as a free offer to any family within the preschool – they will need to collect. If no response investigate the Councils  E-waste program.

Discussion about Mulbring. Looks like low numbers for 2011. We need more investigation to see if there are any more under 5 year olds.

Discussion about leasing of vans – Sandy will start talking to car companies for a sponsorship offer for the 2 vans.

Meeting with Alison Wallace from DOCS on 31 August 5.30pm at base. All welcome.  Liz O to produce an invoice for DOCS for 20 cookbooks for this meeting. JH to chair.

Sandy T to discuss garden and upgrade of Wollombi outdoor area, dollar for dollar with school, with some kind of g’tee they won’t just dig it up. Sally Fisher will donate native plants.

Discussion around successful grants, why are Gresford doing so well? JH is writing their apps so she is going to send through some examples so that others may learn some tips.

FUNDRAISING

Stuck on you - Stickers for school, Sally’s idea, sounds good. Proceed

Cookbooks: we have sold 285 books to date with 120 left at the base which means there is 465 out on consignment or with committee members. current profit on books is $1,637.75.

VHC Lunch: have sold about 100 tickets with no advertising. Letterbox drop to happen this week in Wollombi. Requested that we give 2 free tickets to the service’s founder Helen Dunlop. All agreed.

Hats will be on sale for $12 this week. Thanks Sarah.

Treasurers report: See attached from TK.

MOTION to move $30,000 to the van fund and $30,000 into the business saver.

Moved TK seconded Sandy T. Approved no objections.

ACTION ITEMS

ALL to bring 3 options for leasing/buying/squatting in new premises to next meeting.

ALL committee members to cash in cookbook consignments, get the money into Liz and offer additional stocks.

ALL email JH any local paper contacts for VHC lunch to spread the word.

All send through ideas on excursions.

RB For OH&S compliance please write a letter to Giloo asking for the light in the toilet to be properly wired.

Sally T to update ticket spreadsheet and email to Sandy T.

Sally T to organise info for each venue about Stuck on you.

Lyndell O to put VHC flyer/press release in local paper

PM to organise for RTA information to go in all parent post boxes about wearing seat belts.

PM advertise hats in newsletter and VHC Lunch tickets

PM to investigate our legal obligations for opening and closing venues.

PM to discuss extra day – school readiness with Peter at Lochinvar School and find out if he expects us to fund it.

PM and SS to look into data on population statistics, council, developers and DOCS to identify areas of upcoming 0-5 year olds that may be ripe for a mobile preschool, eg. Aberglassyn?

PM  Carried over from June: that by next meeting PM have a position on lockable containers for preschool records.

SS to investigate laws around transporting our preschoolers for excursions, bus seatbelts and car seats.

ST and SS to create another flyer to call for enrolments at Mulbring.

Next Meeting:  Monday, 13 September 2010 at the base, 85 Cessnock Road, Weston, at 6pm

Meeting closed at: 8.55pm

Minutes: These minutes were taken by Sandy Thomas

Committee Meeting

Monday 16 August 2010

Director’s Report

Thank you all for attending this Committee Meeting.

The base is looking very flash!  Thanks Committee for your support and huge thanks to all staff for a huge effort in constructing desks, rearranging furniture, cleaning floors and organising things.

We are over half way through the year and 3^rd term will fly by.  So much has happened and so much is happening.

Cee Cees Awards for Those Who Shine

Congratulations on being short listed to the final 3 for the Community Child Care Co-op awards!!  It is great to see such recognition for the hard work and perseverance that this Committee has dedicated themselves to.  Staff are very excited and wish you luck on the night – we think you deserve to win.

Venues

Lochinvar is going like a house on fire.  Numbers are excellent for this year and next.  I think Robyn has had further contact with Peter and I am not sure of the outcome.  I know the 3^rd day is not financially viable at this stage…..but……

Lots of interest for 2011 enrolments already and we are excitedly working with parents to assist them in the transition to school.

Gresford’s very active community have been doing a great job at this venue.  The floor working bee was a great success and we have been surprised by little things appearing such as new shelving in the office, a new water cooler and brand new tables that are a great size!  Numbers are increasing steadily at this venue on both days.

Current enrolment numbers are

Gresford  Monday –  9                      Friday –    14

2011           Monday – 9                       Friday - 9

Mulbring  Tuesday – 8

Wollombi  Wednesday – 9     Thursday – 10

Lochinvar Wednesday –  19 Thursday –  19

2011            Wednesday – 18 Thursday - 17

Camera

Guild insurance has paid our claim for the broken camera replacement less GST.  The replacement camera was $179 and we received a cheque for $162.73

Staff

Staff have all been working hard to achieve loads of successful outcomes.  Putting the desks together was a great team building exercise – especially Liz’s desk.  Some of the old tables are being used in the shed.

New Equipment

A huge amount of boxes have arrived  and we are very excited about ripping into these boxes and discovering the fresh array of terrific new equipment (we were going to open some last Wednesday, but finishing off moving the office furniture took all our time).  Thank you so much to Committee for enabling us to purchase some much needed resources for the service.

Asset Register

Liz is part way through pricing all the office equipment for the asset register.  But I’m afraid I still have some confusion about pricing the items in the register and need some guidance – sorry.

Staff also would like to check with Committee what they would like to do with the old Compaq computer.  It does not have enough RAM to run Windows XP (can only run 98) isn’t capable of running broadband and does not have the same year Office programmes as our current one.   There is also a portable TV that doesn’t have inputs for a DVD player and a very old VHS player.   We currently have no use for them.

Visitors

We have been very fortunate at Lochinvar and Gresford to have had visits from Margot the Dental Nurse, she will be visiting Mulbring and Wollombi later in the year.  The police will be visiting us shortly at Lochinvar.  Any suggestions for further adventures are welcome.

Team Leader Report

Committee Meeting

16^th August 2010

Preschool Hats:

I have picked up the preschool hats. If we can get a selling price, we can take 

them to preschool to start selling.

Mulbring:

Our enrolments are at 8 at the moment. I sent a position letter to a family whose child turned 3 in July, I am yet to hear back from them.

Next year 5 of these children will start school. There are only 2 names on the waiting list, with one of these not due to start until September.

We do our regular advertising in the local school newsletter and through our playgroup contacts. Can we think of some bigger better ways to advertise our preschool service for this area??

Venue days may need to be shifted around next year with the introduction of a new venue, so we need to know what position we are in at Mulbring.

Shelving for Kitchen:

It has recently come to our attention that we are going to need to start storing certain toys in the kitchen with the craft items.

While preparing our new program, Leanne and I discovered a box of wooden Brio train track that had been totally destroyed by the water that comes into the shed. The box had a decent layer of water in the bottom, and all of the track is covered with mould. I have also taken photos of this equipment and the shelf area.

This leads to us having discussions about the possibility of storing wooden toys and clothing in the kitchen.

I was having a discussion with Liz about this, and she offered to look up prices for shelving units, which I have here.

We would appreciate it if you could consider our service purchasing some extra shelving so we can deal with this storage issue.

Preschool Excursion:

I would like to organise an excursion for our two preschool groups to Hunter Valley Zoo for the end of this term.

I have sourced information about cost and the types of activities they provide.

If you have a group of 10 or more people, you receive a discount.

The discount prices are:

Adults $ 12.80

Concession $ 11.20

Children $ 8.00

Children under 3  Free

If we charged the children $5.00, and the adults who would like to attend $8.00, would our service cover the difference, or do we charge them the full discounted prices?

The types of activities they have are: monkey feeding, wombat feeding, and

Koala patting and photos.

I have done a rough costing on full numbers of children and adults.

Mulbring/Wollombi: Full Discount Price:

8 chn @ $8 = $64

8 adults @ $12.80 = $102.40

12 chn @ $8 = $96

12 adults @ $12.80 = $153.60

TOTAL $ 416.00

Mulbring/Wollombi: Preschool Price:

8 chn @ $5 = $40

8 adults @ $8 = $64

12 chn @ $5 = $60

12 adults @ 8 = $96

TOTAL $ 260

DIFFERENCE THAT SERVICE WOULD PAY BASED ON FULL GROUPS IF WE OFFER $5 FOR CHN AND $8 FOR ADULTS IS: $156.00 FORTHE TWO GROUPS.